Saumlaki, Maluku (ANTARA) – PT. Astra International Tbk has selected six villages in the Tanimbar Islands District in Maluku Province as Astra Prosperous Villages (DSA) 2021 for entrepreneurship development in seaweed cultivation.

Tanimbar Islands district head Petrus Fatlolon signed a joint work agreement with the director-general of village economic development and investment, villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Ministry, the Tanimbar Islands regional government, and PT. Astra on the 2021 DSA program on July 22, 2021, head of the Tanimbar Islands District’s Village Community Empowerment Service, Paulus Arnol Sabono, informed.

“This is part of the implementation of Astra’s CSR (corporate social responsibility) entrepreneurship program in the form of village community-based entrepreneurship development,” Sabono said in Saumlaki on Saturday.

The program aims to optimize the local potential, village’s superior products, and improve villagers’ welfare, he added.

The six villages where the program will be implemented are Lelengluan, Risol, Ritabel, Kelaan, and West Lemdesar in the North Tanimbar sub-district and Awear Rumngeur village in Wuarlabobar sub-district, he informed.

Astra has entrusted Ocean Fresh with providing assistance and training to the six target villages, he said.

The program will focus on strengthening village entrepreneurship institutions, namely village-owned businesses (BUMDes), and developing the village’s superior product, which is seaweed, he added.

“In addition, they will be given access to capital and seaweed marketing, as well as (guidance on) the development of the right innovations,” he said.

Sabono said he hoped the DSA program would benefit the people of Tanimbar.

Source: Antara News